CHAPTER VIII
THE FAINT HEART OF NO MAN
No Man and She Wolf kept the secret of the bow safe in their cave, and in the early mornings She Wolf went forth to hunt armed with spear and club, while No Man sat in the sun, and scratched the story of his life upon a fine white bone.
He scratched away with much boastful imagination; picturing in order all the clever things that he really had done and as many others that he hadn’t as he could possibly think of.
Whenever She Wolf came back from the hunting, she would admire the progress of the bone, and think to herself that No Man was the bravest and cleverest man of whom there was any record.
For the most part No Man was kind to her, but when she returned empty handed, or his work did not please him, he would beat her till she was half dead. And she loved him alike for the caresses and the blows.
The pictures that she liked best were those in which she herself figured—first savage, untamable and to be feared—then hunting with No Man in the forest, then lying insensible by the brook, then fawning at No Man’s feet, and then following him to his cave.
That was the last scene depicted on the bone, but No Man had taken care to leave space for one scene more. And when She Wolf asked what it was he would not tell her.
So he put the bone aside and went to work on others. And the most of a year passed, and the rest of the tribe began to think well of No Man, for he hunted occasionally and always he killed.
One day, She Wolf said that she did not wish to go hunting. But No Man struck her and made her go.
“Do not come back,” he said, “without two haunches of moose for I have promised one to No Foot in return for some flints which he is making for me. And the other one we will eat ourselves.”
When the sun was high, No Man started on a round of visits, for he dearly loved conversation, and boasting. But he got no further than the cave of old Moon Face, for there he heard news which sent him packing after his bow and arrows.
Moon Face was the oldest man in the tribe and the richest. He looked precisely like a baboon, only the hairs fringing his face were white, and that was why he was called Moon Face. Moon Face never let go of anything that he got his hands on. All his life he had been a collector. His cave was full of clubs, nets, spears, flints, bright-colored feathers, and smooth round stones for throwing. He was very stingy and never exchanged except at advantage to himself. He had outlived a number of wives, and there were many of his descendants among the tribe. His youngest son, and his last wife, a half grey, apish old creature, lived in the cave with him; the boy hunted and the woman attended to the wants of all three.
No Man found Moon Face blinking in the sunlight before his cave. No Man squatted and waited for his host to begin.
“How are your affairs getting on?” said the old man presently.
“I have nothing to complain of,” said No Man. “And how is it with you?”
“I do not get the attention to which I am entitled,” said Moon Face. “But I am able to exist.”
Now he squirmed and fell to scratching himself between the shoulder blades.
“Maybe I can help you,” said No Man.
“It is nothing,” said Moon Face. But he only squirmed and scratched the harder.
No Man approached, bent over the old man, and began to search thro’ the snarled mat of hair that covered his back. Presently he crushed something between his thumb and forefinger and threw it away.
“That is a great relief,” said Moon Face, “I have been after that fellow all the morning. And now we can talk at our ease. Have you heard what has at last happened in Strong Hand’s cave?”
“No,” said No Man, betraying no interest, “I have not heard of him or seen him in a long time.”
“Well, at last he has a child,” said Moon Face.
“A daughter I should imagine,” said No Man spitefully.
“Yes. A daughter.”
“They have been a long time about it,” said No Man. “I was beginning to think they were both as dry as old bones.”
“Strong Hand passed this morning,” said Moon Face, “on his way to the hunt. He was strutting like a cock partridge. You might have thought that his was the first child of which we have any record.”
“So he has gone hunting, has he?” said No Man. “I think I will drop round to his cave and have a look at the child.”
“Anything that has taken so long to make should be worth looking at,” said Moon Face. And they laughed heartily, and parted with mutual compliments and good will.
But No Man did not go at once to Strong Hand’s cave. First he went to his own and got his bow and arrows. And then he hid himself in a clump of birches and poplars that Strong Hand would have to pass on the way home.
“This is just the time for killing,” said No Man. “Strong Hand is very proud and I will strike him. When he is dead there will be no one to hunt for his woman; and her milk will give out and the child will also die. Matters could not have been better arranged.”
He waited patiently all thro’ the afternoon and reviewed the prospective scene of his vengeance. It was the scene for which he had left a blank space on the big clean bone. Here would be the runway that Strong Hand must follow, here the thicket where he himself lay in hiding with his bow and arrows.
But it began to grow dark, and No Man was disturbed for at heart all men fear the dark. And when he heard Strong Hand strolling up the runway he was even more disturbed. But he steadied himself and waited.
Suddenly he heard Strong Hand calling his name.
“What are you doing in there, No Man?”
No Man was seized with fear. And he said to himself, “I am a fool, for the wind was blowing from me to him all the time and he has smelled me out.”
He went out of the thicket and yawned when he saw Strong Hand. Strong Hand had slung a doe over his back and in his free hand were two spears and a club.
“I have been asleep,” said No Man. “It was cool in the thicket and I was weary.”
“Come to my cave?” said Strong Hand. “And I will give you a piece of meat and show you something.”
So he trotted along with Strong Hand to his cave, and was given meat and shown the girl-child. After which they parted with mutual compliments.
“May She Wolf bear you a son,” Strong Hand called after him.
But No Man went home to his cave raging, for he had played the fool and the coward and his vengeance was no nearer than ever.
When he got to his cave and found that She Wolf had not come back, his anger turned from himself to her. And he promised himself to give her a taste of the great stick which he kept for the purpose.
He sat in the cool, waiting and glowing like a coal.
